Three several times our Saviour retired to pray; each time saying the same words; and each time, on His return, He found the disciples still asleep at last, when He came to them the third time, He roused them, and said, 66 Behold, he that betrayeth me is "at hand;" and He had hardly said the words, when Judas entered the garden at the head of a great multitude armed with swords and staves, and as these men did not so much as know the person of him they were persecuting, Judas directed them to seize and bind whomsoever he should kiss.

So Judas approached the Lord, saying, "Hail, Master!" and kissed Him: upon which the soldiers drew near to take Him prisoner; but Peter, whose indignation was now roused to the utmost, drew his sword and struck one of the men a blow on the head which cut

off his ear. The Lord, however, mildly rebuked him; and reminded him that He could at that moment command whole legions of angels to descend to His rescue, if He thought fit; but that He chose voluntarily to undergo the sufferings His Father had appointed for Him; and so saying, He touched the man's ear and healed it. The disciples, then, fearful that they too might be taken if they remained longer there, fulfilled their Master's prediction, and all forsook Him and fled.

You have now, my dear children, heard some of those sufferings which your Lord and Saviour underwent for your sakes; and "is it nothing to you, "all ye that pass by ?" Can you be lieve that your sins were the cause of the agony He endured in the garden of Gethsemane, and yet the next time

you have a temptation, give way to it as easily and readily as before? Can you think of what passed in that garden on your account, and still go on, day after day, without repentance or reformation?

I hope, my dear children, the remembrance of those sufferings will induce you to forsake what you know to be displeasing to Him who endured them; and that the rest of your life will be passed in endeavouring to love and obey that Lord who deserves all your love, and all your obedience; for he refused not the bitterest cup of sorrow that was ever tasted on earth, when the salvation of your souls depended on his receiving it.

"He hath borne our griefs, and "carried our sorrows."-Isaiah, liii. 4.

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XXIV.

THE DENIAL.

WHEN the soldiers had bound our Saviour, they led him away to the palace of the High Priest to be tried; and Peter and John, though they had at first fled like the rest of his disciples, in the garden, yet kept near enough to see what became of Him; and when they found that He was taken into the palace, they followed Him in, and mingled themselves amongst the servants in the hall, in hopes that they should be overlooked and unnoticed in the crowd.

The night was very cold, so the servants of the High Priest made a large fire in the hall, and Peter sat down with the rest to warm himself.

He had not been seated long, however, before a maid-servant came up, and looking earnestly at him, exclaimed, "Thou also wast with Jesus of Ga"lilee." Surprised and frightened at this startling address, Peter attempted a kind of equivocating answer, and hastily said, "I do not know-I do "not understand what you mean.'

Shortly after this, another maid-servant observed him, and said to the servants who stood by, " This fellow was "also with Jesus of Nazareth;" but Peter solemnly declared with an oath that he did not even know the man.

An hour passed away, and Peter had now probably begun to suppose him